A Rant.....

[davebass66]

So.....

I recently installed an Audere JZ3D pre into my Jazz bass.... I had problems with serious humming when either pickup was solo'd.

Last week I spent £50 sending it to a tech to get the bass fully copper shielded and have the wiring checked. This did not fix the problem. Having spoken to him again today he has basically said he can't do anything else but is happy to keep my money having not fixed the problem (he will remain nameless)

So this morning I called someone else, who will be named. Ray Cooper was one of the least helpful and un polite people I have ever had the displeasure to speak to. I asked him if I could bring the bass in for him to have a look at and he simply said he wasn't interested and no, I couldn't come in. (he is a professional guitar tech apparently). No 'sorry I don't think I can help' just 'I'm not interested'.

Useless. I would recommend anyone on here to avoid Ray Cooper Guitars.

On top of all of this I have sent Audere 4 emails regarding my problem. I have not had a reply to a single one.

Poor customer service. I don't want to ring them as they are US based and it's a bloody expensive phone call. You would think with them being such a small company that relies on reputation that their customer service would be top notch, as opposed to non-existent, as I have found.

Sorry to have to vent on here but I have had one of those morning where you wonder how any of these people manage to make a living from being so utterly unhelpful.

Rant over.

D

Edited August 1, 2011 by davebass66

[dave_bass5]

I can see the reason the first guy didnt want to give you your money back, after all he has done work on the bass. If the problem is with the pre amp itself (just guessing) then no amount of shielding will help, so its not really the guys fault if its still humming, as long as he hasn't made it any worse.

I do understand that you were paying him to cure the hum though so its a tricky situation. If you can get someone else to look at it and it turns out he didnt do a good job then you have ground to complain and maybe get some money back.

I personally would now contact the shop/person you got the pre amp from and get them to sort it out.

It might be worth posting on TalkBass as im pretty sure it will be seen by the right people.

Good luck with it.

Edited August 1, 2011 by dave_bass5

[Rich]

Dave_bass talking to davebass... this could get confusing, like the Python Bruces

I tend to agree however, the first tech definitely deserves some recompense for his shielding work at least.

[Lozz196]

I`m in the South East, and use Terry Chapman, of TJC Guitars. Terrys work is very good, and he is a nice guy to deal with.

[url="http://www.tjcguitars.com/"]http://www.tjcguitars.com/[/url]

I ended up using Terry for exactly the same reasons as in the OP, having also dealt with a local luthier who "is one of the least helpful and un polite people I have ever had the displeasure to speak to".

[lanark]

Id say you should take the pre out - if it's still humming you know for definite that the pre-amp isn't the source of the problem, if not, it is the preamp. Then, get someone else (who's not going to charge extra) to reinstall the pre-amp to make sure that you didn't do something wrong when you put it in. If it's still humming when put back in, you have a case of asking Audere not only to replace the pre or give you a full refund, but also contribute to the section of the bill that was checking the wiring (the shielding you probably ought to swallow yourself)

Edited August 2, 2011 by lanark

[Stacker]

Serious humming sounds like an earthing issue. Are the solder grounds nice and shiny? Have you metered the circuit to see if there's any crosstalk between + and -?

I also agree with ripping out the Aud for now and putting the orginal jazz circuit back in if you still have it and see what happens.

[BassBunny]

I would use a dial-up service to call Audere.
It will cost abouy 0.5p per minute and at least you should get an answer.
I found them very helpful when I had to call them.
Here's a link with the Money Saving Expert Call Checker.
[url="http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/"]http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/[/url]

[davebass66]

Thanks guys, Appreciate the advice!

D

[Mr. Foxen]

Important thing when going to a tech is ask for what you want, not for what you think will achieve what you want. They will likely know better than you, so if you ask for shielding, you get shielding, ask for the hum fixed, and if they shield it and it doesn't fix the hum, you can say they didn't do what you payed them to.

[charic]

Take your phone out of your pocket

[TheGreek]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1323002' date='Aug 1 2011, 12:49 PM']I`m in the South East, and use Terry Chapman, of TJC Guitars. Terrys work is very good, and he is a nice guy to deal with.

[url="http://www.tjcguitars.com/"]http://www.tjcguitars.com/[/url]

I ended up using Terry for exactly the same reasons as in the OP, having also dealt with a local luthier who "is one of the least helpful and un polite people I have ever had the displeasure to speak to".[/quote]

I, too, use Terry whenever I have any problems or need to have some work done. I would recommend his work highly. Try getting in contact with him to see whether he feels he can help - he recently dealt with an electrical problem with my Wal - no problem now..

Terry is in Stevenage - easy access from the A1.

Best of luck..

[flyfisher]

[quote name='davebass66' post='1322890' date='Aug 1 2011, 11:25 AM']Last week I spent £50 sending it to a tech to get the bass fully copper shielded and have the wiring checked. This did not fix the problem. Having spoken to him again today he has basically said he can't do anything else but is happy to keep my money having not fixed the problem (he will remain nameless)

So this morning I called someone else, who will be named. Ray Cooper was one of the least helpful and un polite people I have ever had the displeasure to speak to. I asked him if I could bring the bass in for him to have a look at and he simply said he wasn't interested and no, I couldn't come in. (he is a professional guitar tech apparently). No 'sorry I don't think I can help' just 'I'm not interested'.[/quote]

Hmm.

You won't name the guy who took your money but failed to fix the problem, but you named Ray Cooper who was honest enough to tell you up-front that he couldn't help with the problem.

I'd suggest that the first guy is the one to avoid in future and that Ray Cooper sounds like he's honest and straightforward enough to say if he can help with a problem - up-front and for free.

[EBS_freak]

Just out of curiosity... what pickups are in there?

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1324154' date='Aug 2 2011, 12:55 PM']Hmm.

You won't name the guy who took your money but failed to fix the problem, but you named Ray Cooper who was honest enough to tell you up-front that he couldn't help with the problem.

I'd suggest that the first guy is the one to avoid in future and that Ray Cooper sounds like he's honest and straightforward enough to say if he can help with a problem - up-front and for free.[/quote]

[quote name='davebass66' post='1322890' date='Aug 1 2011, 11:25 AM']Last week I spent £50 sending it to a tech to get the bass fully copper shielded and have the wiring checked. This did not fix the problem. Having spoken to him again today he has basically said he can't do anything else but is happy to keep my money having not fixed the problem (he will remain nameless)[/quote]

The first guy did the work asked of him. Shielded and wiring checked. As already pointed out, if its not the shielding and the wiring is fine then the guy did his job and should be paid.
If it turns out the work was faulty then i think thats a different story of course.

Thats how i see it anyway.

Edited August 2, 2011 by dave_bass5

[ThomBassmonkey]

Did you pay the first guy to fix the hum or did you hear that shielding fixes hum and pay him to shield the cavities? Bg difference as if he was paid to fix the problem, he didn't do and shouldn't charge you. If you told him to shield the cavities and he did, then he did what was asked.

It's quite possible (I dot know him) that Ray might have been very busy and not had time to look at it. Better do that than mess you around,

[davebass66]

Let me clarify my original post now that I'm not in such a foul mood!!...

I really have no problem with the guy who did the original work. I asked him to shield the bass to fix the hum...He did it and said he couldn't hear a hum when he plugged into to an amp. I understand why he should be paid.

My issue with Ray Cooper was his attitude. There are much more professional ways to turn down work. He was just downright rude to me, which topped off a pretty annoying morning!

Audere finally got back in touch with me. (no apology for the amount of time it took) and just told me to take the pickups wires out of the pre and see if it still hums. I haven't had a chance to do this yet, so i'll try when I get home.

D